


Stars

by Batfink



Series: Dreamscapes [3]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bruce Is a Good Bro, Explanations, Fluff, Good Loki, M/M, Not Iron Man 3 Compliant, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Male/Male Relationships, Protective Tony, Sharing a Bed, Sleep, Slow Burn, Stars, Thor Is Not Stupid, Thor Is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony is obsessed with Sherlock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-10
Updated: 2015-02-10
Packaged: 2018-03-11 14:27:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3329594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Batfink/pseuds/Batfink
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony finds a new way to help Loki sleep and then he has to come clean to Bruce.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. That's a Satellite

Loki jerked awake. He wasn't sure what had woken him but he had no interest in trying to catch the threads of whichever nightmare had disturbed his sleep. Glancing over Tony he saw the clock on his bedside table. Well, at least he had managed a few hours.

“Jarvis?” He called quietly, not wanting to disturb Tony.

“Yes, sir?” Jarvis replied equally quietly.

Loki untangled himself from both Tony and the covers and swung his legs out of bed. “Do you think it would be okay for me to go out on the balcony?”

“Yes, sir. I see no problem with that.” Jarvis stated.

Loki smiled and headed for the balcony door. “Please don't call me sir.” Loki asked. “It's weird.”

“What would you prefer?” Jarvis enquired.

“How about you just call me Loki.” Loki suggested.

“Very well, Loki. If that is what you would prefer.” Jarvis replied.

“Thanks.” Loki slipped out through the open door onto the balcony taking a deep breath. The air was quite fresh up there. “Would you happen to know which direction Asgard is in?”

“I believe it is over to your left, Loki.” Jarvis informed him.

Loki turned and looked to his left. The sky was dark, void of stars. “Why can't I see any stars?” He enquired.

“Too much light pollution.” Tony answered, appearing in the doorway.

“I didn't mean to wake you.” Loki frowned.

“You didn't.” Tony smiled crossing the balcony to stand beside him. “I was already awake before you got out of bed.”

“So you can't see any stars in New York then?” Loki asked, slipping his arm around Tony's waist when he got close enough.

“Sure you can.” Tony pointed to a bright spot in the sky in front of them. “Oh wait, that's a plane.” He looked around a bit more. “There's one.” He pointed to his right.

Loki stared at it for a moment. “That's a satellite.”

“Damn, you're right, I see it moving now.” Tony studied the sky a bit longer. “Wait, there's one.” He grinned triumphantly pointing directly up.

Loki laughed and Tony leaned into him. “I take it you can see a lot of stars from Asgard?”

“Oh yes.” Loki agreed. “Whole galaxies.”

“Is that why you're out here in the cold?” Tony asked.

“I hadn't noticed it was cold.” Loki shrugged. “But no. The reason I am out here is that I am hoping Heimdall will see me and tell Thor I'm safe. The stars would just have been an added bonus.”

“You miss him?” Tony turned his head to look up at Loki, or from his angle pressed up against him, look at his profile.

“Yes.” Loki stated quietly. “We didn't always get along, but he is my brother and I love him.”

Tony smiled. “He loves you too. In fact...” Tony's smile suddenly got a whole lot bigger. “I think I have something you might like to see.” He pulled away from Loki and dashed to the door. “Wait here. I need to nip down to the lab. I'll be five minutes, ten tops.” He disappeared back into the bedroom calling to Jarvis to turn on the lights and make sure the labs were empty.

Loki turned back to his left and lent against the balcony railing staring out in the direction Jarvis had indicated Asgard was. Providing Heimdall was not needed elsewhere and was not currently keeping an eye on Thor's girlfriend Jane, there was a very good chance he would see him and would alert Thor the next time they met.

Tony returned about seven minutes later and then spent about five minutes fiddling about with an electronic device Loki couldn't identify. Eventually, he seemed satisfied and called Loki back inside. He ushered him over to sit on the end of the bed and instructed him to close his eyes.

The bedroom lights went off. “Okay, open your eyes.”

Loki did so and was amazed to see the bedroom had been transformed. The walls and ceiling were covered by a projected image of a solar system that was very familiar to him. He stared around in wonder. Along the bottom of the projected image was a white railing.

Loki gasped. “This image, it is looking out from my balcony in Asgard.”

Tony nodded and sat down on the bed beside him. “Bruce gave Thor a camera when you two went back to Asgard. When he returned with it, there were loads of photos of people and buildings and scenery. There was also this picture. It's the only one with stars.”

Loki put his hand over his mouth for a moment, overwhelmed. “We used to stand on that balcony and talk about the future. About all the things we were going to do when we grew up. How naïve we were.”

Tony nudged Loki's shoulder with his own. “It's not too late.”

Loki shook his head but smiled. “Perhaps not. If I can make you believe it was not entirely my fault, maybe I can repair my relationship with him too.”

He yawned and Tony chuckled. “Come on, back to bed. We can leave the stars on if you'd like?”

“I would.” Loki grinned shuffling backwards on the bed until he could get his legs back under the covers.

Tony climbed in on the other side and threw his arm over Loki, snuggling into him.

Loki lay there staring at the stars until he fell asleep, his arms wrapped around Tony.


	2. Count me in

“Loki! Loki, Loki, Loki!” Tony exclaimed bouncing down onto the bed the following morning.

Loki groaned and slowly opened his eyes. “What is it Tony?”

“Jarvis downloaded the second season of Sherlock!” Tony grabbed his arm and shook it.

Loki rubbed at his face with his other hand. “It couldn't wait?”

“Noooooo!” Tony howled. “We need to watch it now. Come on. I made breakfast.” He bounced off the bed again, pulling Loki after him by the arm.

Loki stumbled along behind him into the living room where the first episode was ready to start. On the table before the sofa were two mugs of coffee and two plates with pop tarts. Loki flopped down onto the sofa and eyed the pop tarts suspiciously, not convinced they were really food.

“Get 'em while they're hot.” Tony grinned throwing himself down onto the sofa beside him and picking up one of the plates of pop tarts, thrusting it under Loki's nose.

Loki grabbed the blanket that was lying on the arm of the sofa and pulled it over himself before taking the plate from Tony. Carefully, he took a small bite of one of the pop tarts, surprised to find that despite the horrendous colour of the frosting, it was rather tasty.

Tony picked up the other plate of pop tarts and weaselled his way under the blanket beside Loki. “Ready, Jarv.” He announced and the show started.

By the time the last episode finished, Tony and Loki were both holding onto each others arms and staring wide eyed at the TV. “I can't believe that just happened.” Loki gasped.

“I know, right.” Tony nodded. “Amazing!”

“Please tell me there's another season?” Loki begged.

“Jarvis?” Tony asked.

“I'm on it, sir.” Jarvis replied.

“We'd better get your wounds looked at.” Tony said after a moment. “See if we can get those stitches out.” He scrambled off the sofa turning to pull Loki to his feet and they headed for the bathroom.

“Sir, Dr Banner is on the 'phone.” Jarvis announced when they were half way to the bathroom. “You were supposed to check in with him this morning.”

“Shit, yeah. You wanna go on through, I'll catch up with you?” Tony said to Loki.

Loki nodded and continued on to the bedroom while Tony turned back to the sofa. Once Loki was through the bedroom door, Jarvis put Bruce up on the TV screen.

“You were supposed to check in this morning.” Bruce stated.

“I know, but I got totally distracted by Sherlock. Have you seen the new show?” Tony grinned.

“Oh.” Bruce's face lit up. “To the end of season 2, yes. It's amazing.”

“I know, just finished watching that last episode.” Tony chuckled. “Jarvis is downloading Season 3 just now. You wanna come up tonight and watch it? I could order pizza.”

“Count me in.” Bruce grinned.

“Okay.” Tony got serious. “There's something you need to know first though.”

“Is this about the other night and your black ops project?” Bruce asked.

“Yeah, it is. I didn't know how to tell you about this. So I thought, maybe if you heard it the same way I did it would help.” Tony shrugged. “Jarvis is sending you the surveillance footage from that night. I need you to watch it and then give me a call.”

Bruce frowned. “What's this about, Tony?”

“Like I said, I think it's best if you just watch the video.” Tony shook his head.

“Am I going to need to lock myself in the box for this?” Bruce enquired.

“I'm hoping the answer is no.” Tony replied. “I'm hoping you'll agree with my decision.”

“Okay.” Bruce nodded. “You wanna go over last night's report before I do?”

“Sure.” Tony smiled. “Last night was pretty good wouldn't you say?”

“So it seems.” Bruce glanced at the sleep report Jarvis gave him every morning. “The fresh air and car movies helping?”

“Among other things.” Tony agreed.

“Right, the video.” Bruce nodded. “Okay, I'll go watch it.”

“Do me a favour, keep that report in mind when you watch it, okay?” Tony asked.

“Will do.” Bruce nodded and clicked off the feed.

Tony sighed. “Fingers crossed, Jarv.” He headed for the bedroom.


	3. Pizza & Sherlock

Loki was already in the bathroom and had stripped off and removed all the bandages. He was currently in the process of snipping the stitches in his thigh and pulling out the ends having already done the ones in his chest.

“Impatient aren't we?” Tony chuckled.

“They itch.” Loki replied.

Tony crossed to the cabinet and pulled out a tube of antiseptic cream. When Loki had pulled all the thread out Tony rubbed some of the cream over the wounds on his thigh and chest. “Turn around then.”

Loki swung his legs over the side of the tub so that his back was facing Tony. Tony rubbed a thick layer of the antiseptic cream across the slash mark. “This should help numb the area so it won't be so bad when the stitches come out. Loki nodded and Tony took the small pair of scissors from him and began to snip the threads.

Once they were all cut, he began to carefully pull them out. “So, I sent Bruce the surveillance video of the night you arrived.”

Loki turned his head to look back over his shoulder at Tony. “I see.” He said carefully. “Well, I supposed it is a good enough plan. Start with the one most able to kill me and it saves you the bother of explaining it to everyone else first.”

Tony chuckled. “Actually, Bruce is the one most likely to understand. If we can get him on side it will go easier with the rest of them.”

“I hope you're right.” Loki replied.

Me too, Tony thought but didn't say out loud. Instead he pulled the last of the threads free. “All done. You might want to leave your shirt off for a while. Let the wound settle, then we'll see if it needs re-bandaged or can be left as is.”

Loki nodded and swung his legs back out over the side of the tub. He left the bathroom and located one of his new pairs of jeans, pulling them on before settling himself on his front on the bed. “Do you have any books?”

Tony considered for a moment. “Hang on.” He left the room, returning with his StarkPad. “I can show you how to download books?”

Loki shifted over on the bed so that Tony could sit down beside him. He held the StarkPad so that they could both see it and showed him how to search for books and download them to the pad and then where to find them to read.

He left Loki in the bedroom reading and went to the kitchen to make coffee. He was trying to figure out what to make for late lunch when Jarvis informed him that Bruce was ready to talk.

Tony went through to the living room and sat down on the edge of the sofa. The TV clicked on and there was Bruce. Not looking green or pissed off, but very serious. “Hey, Bruce.” Tony nodded to him.

Bruce nodded back. “So, I watched it.” He began. “I'm not surprised you did what you did and I'm not going to tell you it was wrong. You're right, I would have done the exact same thing.”

Tony heaved a sigh of relief before Bruce continued. “That being said. Are you sure you can trust him? He is the god of lies after all.”

“Not true, my brother is the god of fire.” Thor stated coming in the balcony door which Tony had opened earlier. “That lies thing is a vicious rumour started by his ex-wife.”

“My apologies, sir. He appeared before I could alert you.” Jarvis stated.

“Dude, what happened to the thunder?” Tony asked Thor surprised.

“The thunder only happens when I arrive from Asgard. I arrived from SHIELD HQ this time. Where is my brother?” Thor asked.

“Bedroom.” Tony replied pointing in the direction of his bedroom door.

“If you're letting him in, how about we do this in person?” Bruce asked drawing Tony's attention back to the TV.

“Sure.” Tony replied. “I already invited you for Sherlock and pizza.” Just as Bruce was about to click off the screen Tony added. “But only you for the moment.”

“Of course.” Bruce replied.

 

“Thor?” Loki exclaimed when his brother appeared in the doorway.

“Loki.” Thor eyed him carefully, noting the healing wound on his back as he twisted to sit up. Noting the healing wounds on his chest also. “Are you well?”

“Yes.” Loki replied standing and reaching for his shirt that was on a chair by the bedside table. He slipped it on and fastened the buttons as Thor stared at him.

“I've been searching everywhere for you.” Thor told him. “I couldn't believe it when Sif told me Heimdall had seen you here.”

“Lady Sif told you?” Loki glanced at him surprised.

“Yes. Heimdall knew I would want to know immediately, so he sent Sif to tell me as I was already here in Midgard following up a SHIELD lead on the Chitauri.” Thor replied.

“SHIELD know you were looking for me?” Loki frowned.

“No, I told them it was for a different reason.” Thor frowned also.

Loki stared at his brother. “There are so many things I want to say, but I don't know where to start.”

“How about telling me why?” Thor sighed.

“Perhaps it would help to show Thor the video Tony sent Dr Banner.” Jarvis interjected.

“You're right, Jarvis.” Loki moved to sit on the far side of the bed as the TV screen slid out of the bottom of it. “Come sit, brother. We have to start somewhere.”

 

Bruce arrived a few moments later as Tony was pacing the living room floor. He didn't want to interrupt Loki and Thor's re-union, but he wanted to know what was going on.

“Stop pacing.” Bruce smiled when he caught sight of Tony. “I'm sure they'll be fine.”

Tony spun around to face him. “I know.” He huffed flopping down onto the sofa. “Am I crazy then?”

Bruce sat down on the sofa next to him. “No you're not. Are you sleeping with him?”

“What!” Tony exclaimed.

Bruce chuckled. “Sorry, I meant that in the literal sense. Are the two of you sleeping in the same bed?”

“Oh.” Tony chuckled. “Yeah.”

“Do you think that's why you slept better last night?” Bruce enquired.

“I think it might be helping.” Tony nodded. “He has nightmares too you know. It's nice to have someone here who understands.” He paused. “Not that you don't, I mean it's just... you know?” He waved his hand vaguely.

Bruce laughed. “Yeah, I get it. As long as it works, keep it up.” He pulled a face. “I never want to hear either of you asking me, to kill you.”

Tony leaned over and hugged Bruce. “Not a problem.”

“So, you said something about pizza?” Bruce raised an eyebrow in Tony's direction as he hugged him back.

“I did.” Tony laughed. “Jarvis put in Bruce and Thor's usual pizza order, plus a large for me and an extra large with everything for Loki and get a bunch of sides too.”

“Of course, sir.” Jarvis responded.

Loki and Thor came out of the bedroom at that moment. Thor had his arm wrapped around Loki's neck in a brotherly hug. “Did you say pizza?” He asked.

Tony and Bruce laughed. “Pizza and Sherlock, you in?” Tony replied.

“Oh.” Thor grinned. “The TV show? I watched the first two seasons of that with Jane. Where are you up too?”

“We were going to start Season 3.” Loki informed him leading him over to the sofa where he sat down on the other side of Tony from Bruce, shoving him over so that Thor could fit too.

“Perfect timing then.” Thor grinned.

Bruce stood from the now rather cramped sofa and headed for the kitchen. “You still have a stash of those teabags I like?” He called back to Tony.

“Yeah, Jarvis will tell you where.” Tony replied getting up to follow him so that he could make coffee for himself, Loki and Thor.


End file.
